O, Canada: Consulate Consolidates at RXR’s 237 Park Avenue [Updated]

As the United Nations General Assembly gets under way in Manhattan this week, Commercial Observer has learned that one key player is taking new office space for its embassy and consulate.

The Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations and the Consulate General of Canada in New York will consolidate their offices with a new lease at 237 Park Avenue between East 45th and East 46th Streets, according to a source familiar with the deal. The two entities will take a combined 77,000 square feet for part of the 19th and the entire 20th floor.

The Canadians will use the eastern entrance of the building, which has an alternate address of 466 Lexington Avenue, according to a spokesman for Savills Studley, which represented the tenant.

Asking rent in the 15-year lease was in the low-$80s per square foot, the source said, calling the move a relocation from two Manhattan properties. It would appear those locations would be 885 Second Avenue and 1251 Avenue of the Americas.

The embassy, which represents Canada at the United Nations, is currently based at 885 Second Avenue, otherwise known as One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. It has been based at the building between East 47th and East 48th Streets since 2006, leasing 31,000 square feet on the 14th and 15th floors, according to CoStar Group.

The consulate general, a satellite office of Canada’s embassy to the United States in Washington, D.C., is located at 1251 Avenue of the Americas between West 49th and West 50th Streets. The Canadians lease nearly 55,000 square feet in a deal running through September 2017, CoStar indicates.

RXR Realty’s William Elder and Lauren Ferrentino represented the landlord in-house in the deal. David Goldstein and Greg Taubin of Savills Studley worked on behalf of the consulate. Elder declined to comment. A spokesman for Savills Studley didn’t immediately respond with a comment from Goldstein or Taubin. Neither the embassy nor the consulate could immediately be reached for comment.

RXR purchased the 1.2-million-square foot building in October 2013 from Lehman Brothers Holdings for $810 million, according to city records. It then spent $50 million on its renovation. Current tenants include J.P. Morgan Chase, Jennison Associates and J. Walter Thompson. And last month, NewYork-Presbyterian signed a 500,000-square-foot lease to move its offices to the edifice, as CO previously reported.

Update: This story was edited to include information from Savills Studley.